But the audience apparently didn’t find Biden’s remarks — on foreign policy, on the Obama administration’s economic and social policy record — all that riveting, prompting the vice president to deploy some humor to rouse the crowd midway through the speech.

“I guess what I’m trying to say without boring you too long at breakfast – and you all look dull as hell, I might add,” Biden joked. “The dullest audience I have ever spoken to. Just sitting there, staring at me.”

“Pretend you like me!” he exclaimed, drawing laughter from the crowd, according to a print pool reporter on scene.

Biden spoke for roughly 20 minutes, focusing mostly on a foreign policy that he said contrasts sharply with Mitt Romney. He also spoke about the U.S. relationship with Turkey and Azerbaijan, calling the former “one of our most valuable and proudest allies” and the latter a “country with tremendous potential.”

The event was Biden’s 25th fundraiser of the year, with proceeds benefiting the Obama Victory Fund, a joint account run by the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee, and several state Democratic parties.